New Life, Long Nights, Reality Bites

How do you crack open an old blog without writing a post that says “I’ve really wanted to write more, but sorry I didn’t…”?

I never ran out of ideas, I ran out of motivation. 2013 was not en easy year for me, I felt a loss of identity after I graduated, now I was no longer a student. Now it was about finding a job, which proved difficult. My computer had a breakdown, then I had a breakdown. Reality bites!

That was in March.

I did manage to find employment, but not a permanent contract. I have managed to get interviews, even for really nice jobs, but no one bit the bait yet.

So I have a lot of time, I was not designed to have this much unscheduled, unmanageable time, where do I complain? There’s no customer support for Life? I hate this game!

Where do you go if you want a new life? Why The Sims of course!!! (or Second Life).

This looks a little like me, especially the eyebrows. The clothing is definitely mine!

But when I had to give myself character traits, I wasn’t sure I was going to be an easy character to play, I guess I knew that already.

I had to choose just five traits: ‘artistic’, ‘eco-friendly’, ‘excitable’, ‘heavy sleeper’ and ‘neurotic’. But if I could choose more I would add: ‘hopeless romantic’, ‘frugal’, ‘childish’ and ‘family oriented’. Maybe ‘couch potato’ too, haha!

Look what I chose as a Life Time Wish! – ‘Master of the Arts’! Sheesh! How is that gonna get me a job? Well, I don’t know, but look – watercolors!

So status is, I want to blog again, but also about other stuff than WoW, other games (including The Sims 3), mobile games etc. Maybe a little blog-make-over too. I have the ideas, I know exactly what I want to do, just have to get the potato off the couch.

I’ve been taking a long, hard look at my own life. Graduation was a while ago, but middle age is sneaking up on me. Leaving my old job and looking for a new one in MMO development has shoved some reality right in my face.

In answer to your 1st question, “How do you crack open an old blog without writing a post that says “I’ve really wanted to write more, but sorry I didn’t…”?”

IMHO the not-so-great way to do it, which many do, is to write, “I’ve really wanted to write more, but sorry I didn’t…”

I guess I don’t like this because it’s kind of meta-text rather than text. I think in our lives most of us don’t do enough meta. We just run off and do without being more contextual about it. So we should probably *think* more meta.

But, I think we should *write* less meta. My theory on hiatuses is that if sombody’s reading my blog now, whether they’re a long time reader, or someone who’s just discovered this page right now, they’re here now, so rather than go on about how-much-I-suck-even-though-I-really-don’t-mean-to, perhaps it’s best not to waste any sentences on the past but just to dive in with the new.

GOOGLE READER
I’ve been using Feedly since the demise of GR, and I really like it a lot. Really a lot actually!

HIATUSLANDLIKE
I’ve also had blog evolution in the last year or so. As you know, I used to post a lot on iRez. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I sort of moved to a pair of new sites, VirtualPublicArt.com Maybe it’s because in July ’13 I decided I wasn’t a “virtual performance artist” anymore, but had become a “virtual public artist.”

Anyway, just in the last week or so I’ve decided to focus most of my blogging (OMG I have a website/URL addiction! – STOP ME B4 I buy another domain name!!) at

iRez will never go away, that content will stay, I hope, more-or-less forever. And I, or any other author, might even post there occasionally. But mostly I think of it now as a (wonderful) historical archive. And VB.com/blog as my “new home.”

CAREERS & SHIT
For sure graduation, or perhaps any liminal experiences, of which graduation is a pretty significant one, are both exciting and stressful. And great as college degrees are, they often don’t translate into instant careers.

Of course, I’m reading your Feb post in Dec! So a lot’s changed since then. But I feel sorta compelled to give a little pep talk anyway! :P

I don’t, of course, know all that much about the career part of your life. But as a blogger, friend, and amazing VR tour guide, I definitely believe that you’ve got *it*!

Keep putting yourself out there. For sure it can be stressful, even disappointing. But sometimes it can almost be fun. And for sure it can be a time of meditation on the possibilities of life and career.